The present invention pertains to amplifiers, and more specifically, to cable television (CATV) cascode amplifiers that require linear amplification for multi-channel transmission. The stringent specifications for amplifiers in CATV implementations are multi-channel transmission with a wide bandwidth, a gain flatness accurate within several tenths of a decibel, an input and output matched to 75 ohms with at least 18 dB return loss and a noise figure better than about 6 dB. In addition, cross modulation distortion and composite triple beat should be less than certain desired levels, especially at the higher frequency ranges. Although various conventional amplifiers have met some of the specifications alluded to above, improvements are still desired and necessary in the industry. Ideally, a new amplifier should have a lower noise figure, less distortion and more linearity.